Honoring Valley 101 writer Clay Thompson
Clay Thompson’s readers — who he snarkily called “you people” — share their condolences and memories of the longtime columnist who died last week. His Valley 101 column ran in The Arizona Republic for nearly two decades.
January 1, 2000
This is a new column. This is a new column about outdoor recreation and the weather in the Valley.
Really.
It’s going to run, God help me, seven days a week. What anyone can find to say about outdoor recreation and weather in the Valley seven days a week is beyond me, but I guess we’ll find out.
The weather thing is particularly worrisome. Let’s face it: We have two kinds of weather here — hot and not hot. We used to have rain sometimes, but that apparently is a thing of the past now.
Why this has landed on my desk, I don’t know. My idea of outdoor recreation is doing the crossword puzzle on the patio. I’ll have to start getting out more.
Anyway, a while ago, one of my editors — they’re thick as fleas around here — called and gleefully announced they were handing out new assignments, and this was mine.
I had my doubts about this, but at the time, my assignment was to haul my bony butt down to the office while it’s still dark out and call about a dozen police dispatchers to ask whether anything unusual had happened in the past few hours. Most of the time, nothing had.
This wasn’t as onerous as it sounds. Most of the police dispatchers are very pleasant people, even at that hour of the day, and a couple of them knew an astonishing number of dirty jokes.
But it was time for something new, and the more I thought about this outdoor gig, the better it sounded. For one thing, it’s a column, which means it can include opinions. Over the years, I have stockpiled a number of opinions on various things, including several chowderheads I know, and this, provided I can somehow work in outdoor recreation or weather, is my big chance to vent.
Plus, I figure if I play my cards right, I may never have to come into the office again. I’m definitely taking the batteries out of my pager. I’ll just call an editor on my cell phone and yell something like “trailhead” or ”stationary front” and crumple a piece of paper by the mouthpiece so it sounds like static, then hang up and take my coffee and the crossword out on the patio and form opinions about something.
If you have any suggestions or questions about outdoor recreation or the weather, you can call (602) 444-8612 or write to me at The Arizona Republic,
200 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ 85004 or e-mail clay.thompson @ArizonaRepublic.com.
Don’t bother paging.